Award-winning warehouse robot Zeal Runner gets funding boost to bring automation to SMEs
The Province of Flemish Brabant has awarded 125,188 euros in innovation funding to Zeal Robotics, Comate and A&C Systems for the Zeal Runner project. The funding is meant to speed up the development and market launch of an autonomous mobile robot built for order picking in warehouses.
Faster, smarter order picking
The Zeal Runner project is a collaboration between Zeal Robotics, Comate and A&C Systems. The innovation funding was awarded to the consortium, recognizing the value of a partnership that combines expertise across robotics, engineering, and warehouse automation. Together, the partners are developing an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) that supports warehouse staff during manual order picking and handles the transport of small goods. Designed to maneuver up to 50 percent faster than existing solutions without compromising safety or flexibility, Zeal Runner aims to make advanced warehouse automation more accessible to SMEs.
With this grant, we're supporting a strong Flemish Brabant innovation project that addresses real challenges in the logistics sector: working more efficiently, easing staff shortages, and making technology accessible to SMEs. It strengthens our Province as a knowledge and innovation region.
Logistics is a major part of the Flemish Brabant economy, and 65 percent of employment in the region's logistics sector comes from companies with fewer than 200 employees. For these smaller businesses, automation can make a real difference, but only if the technology is flexible, affordable, and easy to put to work. That's the gap Zeal Runner is built to close.
A robot that supports the people on the floor
Zeal Runner is designed for person-to-goods order picking. Warehouse staff still collect the products themselves, but an autonomous robot guides them to the right locations and carries the goods. That can cut down on walking distances and physical strain while improving overall efficiency, a combination that matters most for smaller operations without room for large automation budgets.
The current prototype has already won the iF Design Award 2025. Within the project, it will be developed further into a production-ready device. A working group of logistics companies is testing the robot and following its progress, so the final product fits what the market, including international customers, actually needs.
With Zeal Runner, we want to help warehouses work faster and more intuitively. The province's support helps us take the step from a promising prototype to a market-ready product.
Part of Smart Hub Vlaams-Brabant
The innovation grant is awarded through Smart Hub Vlaams-Brabant, the province's innovation platform. Smart Hub supports collaborative projects in which companies, knowledge institutions, government bodies, and other stakeholders develop new solutions for challenges specific to Flemish Brabant. It connects partners, invests in promising projects, and helps open doors internationally, reinforcing the province's position as a knowledge region.
Want to talk automation for your warehouse or production floor?
Zeal Runner is a concrete example of the kind of work Comate does: combining robotics, engineering, and systems integration to bring a genuinely useful piece of automation from prototype to something a business can actually run on its floor. If you're exploring automation for your own warehouse, production line, or logistics operation, and want a partner who can take it from concept to a working product, we'd like to hear about it.
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